If all the municipalities in Milwaukee
Countyestablish their own system or combine
withseveral other municipalities to
establish asystem with a central location,
MilwaukeeCounty would be required to establish
asystem which connects with all
centrallocations of the emergency telephonesystems established in the county.

It is possible that a mandamus proceedingcould be instituted against public
officialsto obtain compliance with the provisions
ofthe statute.

ROBERT P. RUSSELL,Corporation Counsel Milwaukee County

You state that Section 146.70, Stats.,created by Chapter 392, Laws of
1977,requires, among other things, that
every"public agency" establish and maintain
withinits respective jurisdiction a basic
orsophisticated emergency telephone
system.

As you also state, Section 146.70(1)(f),Stats., provides that "public agency"
meansany municipality as defined in
Section345.05(1)(a), Stats., which provides
or isauthorized to provide fire fighting,
lawenforcement, ambulance, medical
or otheremergency services.

Section 345.05(1)(a), Stats., reads
asfollows:

"Municipality" means
any county, city, village, town, school
district (as enumerated in Section
67.01(1)), sewer district, drainage
district and, without restriction because
of failure of enumeration, any other
political subdivision of the
state.

You then state that Milwaukee County
iscompletely made up of nineteenmunicipalities, each of which providesfire fighting, law enforcement
and otheremergency services.

Public agencies, including
agencies with different territorial
boundaries, may combine to establish
a basic or sophisticated system
as required by this section.

146.70(2)(e)

If a public agency
or group of public agencies combined
to establish an emergency phone system
under Paragraph 146.70(2)(d) has a
population of 250,000 or more, such agency
or group of agencies shall establish
a sophisticated system by December
31, 1987.

A note to the proposed bill pertaining
toSection 146.70(2)(d), Stats., which
containedthe same language, reads as follows:

NOTE: Since federal
policy recommends implementation of
911 by the year 1985, every public agency,
except a State agency, will be involved
in a 911 system.

It does not seem reasonable
to expect each agency to have
a separate 911 system.

Therefore, agencies
are encouraged to combine together to
form a central 911 agency wherever practical.

Political boundaries
and telephone exchange boundaries
may greatly influence the type
of 911 system each agency adopts.

On the other hand,
a large community may well find it advantageous
to divide their area into zones
to better serve their emergency problems.

It is the intent of
this legislation to permit each agency
to participate in a 911 program best suited
to its own local needs.

It is clear that all
the municipalities in Milwaukee County
could combine and establish a sophisticated
system under the jurisdiction of
the county.

On the other hand,
each municipality could establish its own
system or combine with several other municipalities
to establish a system with a designated
central location.

It would appear to
be desirable that only one system be established
under the jurisdiction of Milwaukee County,
but that is a matter for the county and municipalities
to determine.

It is clear that Section
146.70, Stats., does not require every
public agency to establish a separate emergency
telephone system.

Nevertheless, every
public agency must participate in the
emergency services telephone system.

In the event that all
municipalities in Milwaukee County either
establish their own system or combine
with several other municipalities to
establish a system with a designated central
location, it is my opinion that Milwaukee County
would be required to establish a system
which connects with all the central locations
of the emergency telephone systems
established in Milwaukee County.

Thus, this would enable
Milwaukee County to provide assistance
when called upon.

You also inquire as to what the
penalty wouldbe for failure to establish an
emergencytelephone system.

You are correct that there is no
penaltyprovision contained in the statute
in thisregard; however, it is possible
that a properperson or party could institute
a mandamusproceeding against public officials
torequire compliance with the provisions
of thestatute.